Weeks In Conflict

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Alterna-reality explodeathon World in Conflict was one of our favourite RTSes of last year. Perhaps even our favourite, most especially in multiplayer. What’s that? It wasn’t yours? Heretic. Purge yourself with a new two-week free trial of the multiplayer client.

It’s running until March 28th, and they’re also giving away five copies of the full game every Sunday until then, which you’re in with a shot at if you’re caught lurking on a server come the day. You do need to sign up for a free Fileplanet account to get it, which doubtless will cause some of you to swear and spit. Seems a small cost for a fortnight of free tank-smashing to us, though.

Yup, you don’t have to focus on building up a base to get units, you have units from the start, so you can focus on the commanding and the conquering. And if you lose a tank, the “points” are refunded to you and you can call in another (after a delay of course).

For those in the Seattle area, there are a couple of maps that allow you to charge around areas like Pioneer Square, Belltown area (including Space Needle), and the seaport, as well as fight across the I-90 bridge (all of it set in the 80’s of course). It was very accurate. I could even see the spot where my apartment would eventually be standing (as long as I got rid of the damned Commies first). ;)

I’m normally not terribly interested in RTS’s. I never finished Warcraft 3 and I’m really not excited about Starcraft 2. However, I loved Company of Heroes. I think it’s the harvest-resources-while-turtling model that I dislike.

-This is more like a top down action game than an RTS. Yes, there is some basic ‘AT infantry kills tank better than rifle infantry’ logic more in line with an RTS, but it’s all pretty transparent. You’re not wondering what the purpose of a unit is, except maybe basic rifle infantry (as the game tends to get very vehicle intensive from what I’ve played). Not because they don’t have a role, but because they die hella quick :p

-You do need some level of ‘micro’ to manage in the game, but the macro is more important. You won’t be worrying about dancing squads, but you will be worrying about ‘can my light AT guns survive that ambush while my heavy tanks move up? is my artillery defended enough? airstrike here or save up and heavy off-map barage there?’ at a pretty fast pace.

-The reinforcement system works, pretty much all there is to that :) No base building, no buildings to lose. Control points are in one spot and all you need to worry about is keeping those control points locked down. The amount of reinforcement points you get is based on how well you do at killing the bad guys and keeping your points. Not much reward for simply clicking faster or memorizing hotkey sequences.

-The abililties of the units are the only real ‘twitch’ parts of the game, but the way they’re set up, balanced, and designed means that while they will give you an edge, mastery of them isn’t required if you have a superior strategic sense.

I don’t generally like RTS games (because I stink at them) past the single player or a round or two with friends online, but I thoroughly enjoyed WiC. Big recommendations here.

The last two missions took me a few tries though, due to my suckage at RTS as a genre :p

Think Company of Heroes without the stupid base building part (come on, its dire) and even more tactical depth. It’s on a much larger and less personal scale than CoH, but the setting is brilliant and the single player game worth playing.

You’re not wondering what the purpose of a unit is, except maybe basic rifle infantry (as the game tends to get very vehicle intensive from what I’ve played). Not because they don’t have a role, but because they die hella quick :p

If you’re playing on a heavily forested map, the Infantry Commander is king!
Special Ops lay waste to almost everything thanks to their artillery ability and silenced MP5s, meaning they dont appear on the map when sniping from cover.

Yet I’m one those heathens that thinks CoH is a highly overrated fiddly affair. It meant well but I’d rather play Soldiers or Close Combat. World in Conflict scores a direct hit on the mix of action and tactics without all the babysitting and gamey nonsense in CoH.

They actually let you play in the Belltown area, Chris!? I lived there for about a year until the party-goers and druggies forced me out haha. Now I’ll have to finally buy the darned game. (Oh yeah, it also sounds really fun.)